City and Guardiola host Klopp's former club Liverpool on Sunday for the Catalan's 1,000 game as a senior manager.
"If I were to choose one rival for this personal milestone, that I want to share with many people, they would be the best," Guardiola said.
"I've been longer than ever in this country. Of course Barcelona, the impact on my life as a ballboy, football player, manager, and so on is obvious and Bayern was an incredible step as well.
"But Liverpool, especially with Jurgen, have been the biggest rivals in this country and it could not be better, to be honest. So destiny decided that and it's nice to live it."
"In terms of Jurgen's side or Pep's side, I think we respected each other. I had the feeling that Jurgen gave me a lot and I miss him.
"He gave me a lot in sense of, to beat that guy, how much I have to think and work and do it, to make it better."